The big city read along with the Universe Versus Alex Woods

 I picked up a free book at the library this afternoon and I don’t need to return it because it’s part of a Big City Read sponsored by publishers Hodder and Stoughton, the Reading Agency, Bristol City and Somerset Council’s library services and local bookshops.

This is a giveaway with one thousand copies of Gavin Extence’s Glastonbury-based novel ‘The Universe Vs Alex Woods‘ available in libraries throughout Bristol.

The novel chronicles the adventures of unlikely teenage hero Alex Woods who, despite his unconventional start in life and clairvoyant single mother, knows lots of things, such as how long it would take to drive to the sun (over 140 years, if you drove 24 hours a day and stuck to the motorway speed limit).

When he meets ill-tempered,reclusive widower Mr Peterson he makes an unlikely friend, who tells him that you only get one shot at life. Then Alex is stopped at Dover customs with 113 grams of marijuana, an urn full of ashes on the passenger seat, and an entire nation is in uproar.

The Big City Read will culminate in special finale events in Bristol and Glastonbury, including a visit by the author to Bristol Central Library on Wednesday June, 12 at 7pm.

Tickets for the event are available at all local libraries.

Kate Murray, head of libraries for Bristol City Council said: “We’re celebrating 400 years of public libraries in Bristol this year, so we’re delighted to be able to offer our readers a birthday present in the form of this fantastic book.”